Bough adds that Secondary School Resource Officers and School Safety Officers are aware of the clown hoax on a whole and “are working with local school boards to ensure that the students are safe”.

The threat however, follows a string of incidents across North America, including a false claim earlier this week that weapons-wielding clowns from the United States murdered 23 Canadians that was first posted on a fake news web site.

In Chatham-Kent, police say they are aware of the hoax and have yet to receive any official “clown sightings” in the community. Cst. Renee Cowell adds that “although it is not an offence to dress in this fashion, our response will be dictated by your actions (ie: uttering threats, being in possession of a weapon, mischief, cause disturbance, trespassing etc)”.

Niagara Regional Police have also been inundated with concern over the issue and have released a video aimed at helping any frightened children.

While many sightings and reports did not result in any serious incidents, there have been reports of arrests and injuries involving clowns.